Going deaf

[katmandoo122]

I have read a lot of posts, mostly in the scenario thread, about the chances of going deaf due to a gun fight. I know that guns are loud having occassionally heard them a little too close without the muffs on tight. However, if a short gun battle, what really are the chances that you would go deaf?

Seems pretty slim to me but I am curious to see what the forumites say.

Thanks.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Bud White]

I really doubt it audio exclusion is one thing you always read about in reports after gunfights

[afeazell21]

I don't think you could go deaf from a short gun fight. Though, stranger things have happened. I think at the most your ears might ring a little while. Thats about it.

[Jaltered]

Is not audio exclusion more a matter of the way your hearing "perceives" sound? I don't think that audio exclusion has anything to do with your eardrums not sustaining damage. That wouldn't make sense to me.

[PaulG]

My doctor said that hearing damage is cummulative and that one single event won't be noticable unless it is EXTREMELY loud, i.e. grenade going off next to your head (of course, if that happened, your hearing would be the least of your worries).

But that's why we wear hearing protection. To stop as many loud moments as possible.

Each loud noise that does damage decreases our hearing a little bit.

I think the auditory exclusion would keep you from noticing anything during a gun fight. Also, I have unfortunately been right behind a couple of high powered rifles as they were being fired - no hearing protection on.

I had a ringing in my ears for a while but that's all. My hearing is not as good as I would like but I do OK.

Funny, I still can't hear the tone of my wife's voice very well.

[Thumper]

It's a weird thing but the one time I had to discharge my weapon inside a building, I hardly heard the shot and my ears didn't even ring!

I've not had that good fortune out shooting in the wide open!

[raysheen]

huh? what's that you say sonny? I'm not really worried about going deaf in a gun flight due to hearing dammage...the auditory exclusion that has been mentioned would be a factor as well...
even if perminant damage was a real problem then it wouldn't be a concern in a gun fight because the options are either go deaf or die.

There is a story about a guy in SWAT who had some very serious hearing damage due to a 5.56 going off inches from his ear while inside a building, but that isn't going to be the typical defensive shooting scenario if you ask me.

[P95Carry]

Main deal is - the sound pressure wave intensity as it affects the ear drum.

Huge excess of course can rupture that but the other damage is to the ossicles - the malleus, incus and stapes - that transfer the vibration across from ear drum to inner ear.

With repeated abuse they can develop arthritic change later on.

Short term trauma to these affects folks to differing degrees - and in some one bad episode could be enough to precipitate tinnitus aureus, whereas for the majority it is indeed usually cumulative, and a build up towards some form of ringing.

I forget now for sure but I am thinking also the cochlea itself can play a part with tinnitus, after sound traumas.

Hopefully, for starters - none of us will have to put this to the test in a defensive shooting but unless a muzzle blast is real close to an ear - chances are the effects will be temporary unless the ears are already severely disadvantaged thru many years of poor protection.

[retsupt99]

and we sometimes have to make some tough calls.
I would not be thinking about my 'hearing' during a threat upon my life or the lives of my family members.
One thing is for sure...the BG trying to harm my family will 'not' have to worry about a hearing loss...guaranteed!

OMO

Stay safe

ret

[xsquidgator]

Wow, how things change. Growing up in Tennessee we went shooting outside a lot, and I don't EVER remember wearing hearing protection. My hearing was ok after that but then five years in submarine engine rooms (back in the late 80s early 90s the USN didn't wear hearing protection there either) I had some high freq loss as picked up on my exit physical. Oh well can't go back and undo it now, at least I currently wear protection when shooting...

[pgrass101]

My Father, oldest brother and myself, have all suffered hearing damage from duck hunting. We can not hear certain high frequncecies (sp?) and we have problems with conversation with a lot of background noise. We duck hunted for years with out hearing protection and our preferred method of duck hunting can be descibed as battery fire. It was not the most "sporting" but Dad and the rest of us really liked duck

[Crexrun]

Here's my .02 cents. Go shoot clay pigeons with mild 12 ga shells, your ears will ring. Now go goose hunting with the heaviest magnum shells you can find, and you can stop shooting and listen for geese a mile away and not even think about the shot.

shooting my pistols (.22 and 9MM) without ear protection results in a physically painful, sharp pain in the sides of my head. I only know that because I shot each ONE round to see what it was like. Owwie.

The same night I tried that with no ear protection and vowed to never shoot either pistol with no ear protection, a skunk ran across the road in front of me. I was going slow, jumped out, shot 4 times (he was running, it was dark, I'm a bad shot! lol) anyway, got back in the car, not a ring, didn't even think about it.

The other day I was out shooting my 10/22 and my pistols, and I was doing some 75 yard shooting with all. I took my muffs off when shooting the 10/22, and without thinking, picked up my Walther P22, shot once, and instant pain.

I have sensitive ears, and quite good hearing, IMO. I dont' know why I dont' remember the shots when I'm excited, but I dont'. Are they any less damaging? I would doubt it, but, in the same breath, why don't my ears ring when I'm shooting 4 times at a skunk, but they ring painfully after ONE shot at a target?

Good question. Maybe It's adrenaline. I'd like to know. Crexrun

[peacefuljeffrey]

I really doubt it audio exclusion is one thing you always read about in reports after gunfights

I don't imagine that auditory exclusion is anything more than a perceptual thing, though. The damage that loud noise does to one's hearing occurs because of the breaking of the fine hairs that pick up vibrations in our inner ears, right? I'm no audiologist, but I imagine that sustained loud noise is worst, but even a single really loud, proximate noise could just blast the inner ear pretty badly.

Imagine that someone is rendered comatose by medication. There is no reason to think that just because his mind does not register any sound (can't even wake him up), that his inner ear can't suffer damage from loud noise.

They say that if you encounter loud noise and hear any ringing at all afterward, that indicates you have done some level of damage to your hearing. Think of the muffled, ringy way you hear after you see a very loud band in a small bar. (I've done it.) That's hearing loss, according to stuff I've read.

Remember in the movie The Fugitive, when T.L. Jones caps a badguy right next to the head of his colleague? The guy complains later of hearing loss. I think that's more or less true to life, how it would be.

[QKShooter]

I have permanent shooting related Tinnitus
Ringing in the ears.
Yes, you are correct damage is cumulative.
Take care of your ears.
Buy the best hearing protection that you can afford to buy.
You do not want to get what I have people.
My ear ringing started about 9 years ago.

So what exactly does mine sound like?
Clap two flat boards together right near one ear really hard.
Your ear will start ringing LOUD for a short time & then the ringing slowly goes away.
Now imagine that exact sound/ringing NEVER goes away.
Transfer that loud exact ear ringing sound over to the other ear so that they're both ringing at the same time in stereo.
Forever.
And there you have it. Shooting Related Tinnitus.
And Trust Me - You don't ever want to get it.


Concentrated Green Tea helps.
A mix of "White Noise & Pink Noise" helps to mask mine.

[peacefuljeffrey]

shooting my pistols (.22 and 9MM) without ear protection results in a physically painful, sharp pain in the sides of my head. I only know that because I shot each ONE round to see what it was like. Owwie.

I'll vouch for that. My friend and I were at an outdoor range, getting ready to leave, and he decided to fire off a .22 -- I can't remember if it was his Remington Viper rifle or a .22 pistol -- after he had removed his earplugs. He complained of the painful sound, and I was skeptical. I took my plugs out (looking back on this, I guess it was pretty stupid. "You say the hot stove burned ya?! Let me give it a tr-- OWW!") and I fired once, and sure enough, it was a sharp, painful crack. I never would have thought that a measly .22 would do that, but it did.

I would not want to fire .40 or anthing like it without hearing protection in, but of course, that is not going to stop me from using my gun in a defensive situation. I'd rather live than hear well but die.